a rejection, books, and christmas
received a short rejection note from ghoti magazine where i had sent four poems. they addressed me as dear mr gabriel, but that has happened before, and will certainly happen again. ;) need to send out more subs soon, there are a few deadlines coming up. have not written anything either. hope to get into that mode again soon.
i was given a few books for my birthday, and bought some as well, despite having a backlog. i have dipped into "der dativ ist dem genitiv sein tod" several times, also into "the meaning of tingo". i read a girly book yesterday, it is so relaxing to read such books in between. got "quite ugly one morning" by christopher brookmyre for christmas, and am reading that now. good thing i did not begin it after having eaten - the first few pages could easily lead to recycled food ... i ordered four more books from amazon today, with gudrun and harald's birthday present, a gift voucher. there's a terry pratchett novel among those, and i look forward to reading that! i finished julian barnes' "england england" last week, a solid novel, but not the most impressive i have read. am also dipping into "in the arms of words" and allen itz' poetry collection now and then, enjoying both.
we stayed in vienna for christmas, spending the holidays at sepp's place. decorated the tree which is about 50-60cm high blue and silver:
sepp cooked us dinner, we listened to christmas songs, opened our presents - there wasn't that much, just a little something. we're both no fans of expensive gifts and christmas shopping frenzies. 
my parents had sent some money and told me to get something for sepp, so i chose a book by sten nadolny and the bruce springsteen storytellers dvd. i gave him a dvd with some episodes of a children's programme which he used to love and in fact still likes, and his favourite sweets. i got a calendar with photos of sweden, and the brookmyre book. 
we decided to sing a little ourselves, english, german and even a swedish song, and that was quite nice - as long as you were not an outsider listening, i suppose. ;)
here are a couple more pictures: 
music: i am grateful to bo for mentioning martha wainwright not too long ago, rufus' sister. her cd martha wainwright is just wonderful. i cannot decide which is my favourite song, but "tv show" is a strong contender, and my song of the day:I'm not such a good lover
check her out.
I'm a better talker
So when you touch me there
I'm scared that you'll see
Not the way that I don't love you
But the way that I don't love myself
3 comments:
Hi Michi! I love your Christmas tree - so cute. And your celebration looks refreshingly low-key. Here in the U.S. it's all so over the top, it becomes more of a chore than a holiday.
Best wishes for a joyous and successful New Year!
sharon, a lot of it is over the top here in austria as well. i am not a big fan of christmas, avoid shopping throughout december, and i have announced that i might stop giving gifts altogether next year, and give to those in need instead. it's really quite scary, people rushing around buying more more more, getting aggressive, yelling at each other ("i saw it first!"). one guy in vienna flipped because someone was faster than him, beat him to a parking space somewhere, and he attacked the poor person with pepper spray! talk about love and peace ... sad, isn't it.
hope you had a good time! :)
m
Hi Michi -
nice to see your photos and hear about what you're reading. I've never listened to Martha Wainwright, but I am a big fan of her mother Kate McGarrigle and her father Loudon Wainwright III. Guess just showing my age.
see ya,
sarah
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